Marshall High School senior and trumpet player Jacob Zimmer will be marching in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday. Zimmer said the audition process for the parade started earlier this year. He had to submit videos of himself playing a solo, and demonstrating his marching skills.

MARSHALL — Marshall area residents will have an extra reason to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV this Thursday. Marshall High School senior Jacob Zimmer will be among the musicians marching and playing in the parade.

“It’s kind of an honor. I think it’s pretty cool,” Zimmer said of being chosen to march in the parade. Zimmer will be one of 185 student musicians from across the country playing in the Macy’s Great American Marching Band.

Zimmer got the news he was selected for the band earlier this year. He will be the first MHS student to march in the Macy’s parade, said MHS band director Larry Petersen.

“I’m really excited for him. It really is a chance of a lifetime to be a part of that parade, it’s so iconic,” Petersen said.

Zimmer has been playing the trumpet since fifth grade, and has been part of the Marshall Tiger Marching Band for three years. He said being in marching band, where he needed to play and move at the same time, was a way to push his limits as a musician.

Zimmer learned about the audition process or the Great American Marching Band from Petersen this summer.

“I got an email, just about the time band camp was supposed to start, that they still had a few openings left,” in some sections of the band, Petersen said. “So I sent emails out to some of the kids and their parents and said, ‘You should think about this. It’s a great opportunity.'”

Zimmer said he wanted to audition for the band because it was something special to try during his senior year at MHS.

“It was going to be my last year, and I just thought it’d be fun to try out. It would be cool if I made it,” Zimmer said.

“I started auditioning in early to mid-August,” Zimmer said. “And it lasted like, two and a half weeks until I finally submitted my audition.”

It took a lot of extra work to put together an audition video for the parade.

“We found a solo for him, and we started working before band camp. He’d come in about an hour early, and we’d work on some stuff and I’d give him some pointers,” Petersen said. “He worked hard, and he would practice at home too.”

For the audition, “They required a clip of me marching and playing a scale, and then a video of me playing a piece,” Zimmer said. He also needed a video demonstrating his marching skills.

Zimmer said he thought he probably wasn’t going to make it into the band. “So, it was a bit nerve-wracking,” he said.

However, Petersen said the response to Zimmer’s audition was strong. “I would say within 24 hours they were back saying, ‘Yes, we really want him, he’s great,'” Petersen said. “So he definitely made an impression on the clinicians.”

Zimmer said learning that he had been selected for the parade was “Like just a huge sigh of relief, because obviously it’s a pretty big deal.”

Even after his audition was accepted, Zimmer still had work to do to get ready for the trip to New York, like practicing the music the band will play in the Macy’s Parade.

Zimmer said being part of the MHS marching and concert band programs helped him stay in practice. “But I’m still practicing the music that we are going to play. One of the pieces is literally (a song) we play for pep band, so that was nice,” he said.

Zimmer said he was going to travel to New York about five days before Thanksgiving, in order to prepare for marching in the parade. In addition to performing, band members will get the chance to do some fun things, like visit Times Square and see a Broadway musical, he said.

Zimmer said his mom, brother, aunt and uncle will also be going out to New York to see him march in the parade.

Getting to meet the other students in the Great American Marching Band would be a fun part of the trip, Zimmer said. “There’s kids from all over the country,” he said.

Petersen said it will also be exciting to have a musician representing Marshall and the state of Minnesota at the Macy’s Parade.

“He’s an ambassador for not just our school district and our community, but for the entire state. And for that to come out of Marshall, it’s a big deal,” Petersen said. “We’re really proud of him in the band program, for sure.”